No Returning
by Shake N. Bake Mormon
Summary: The Return to the Past, for reasons Jeremy was unable to uncover, ceased to function following its first use. Now, he must confront the girl he loves, still trapped on Lyoko following a nuclear disaster. Rushed one-shot based off a reddit post.


It had only worked once.

After Ulrich and Yumi's first trip to Lyoko, Jeremie had activated the supercomputer's "Return to the Past" function, reverting the world to the state in which it had been hours before, though Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd had maintained their memories of the events.

It wasn't until the next attack that Jeremy had a problem, one he couldn't fix: the return to the past, the group's only answer to any of X.A.N.A.'s damage, failed. The boy genius had tried to split his energy between restoring the function and materializing Aelita, and while he kept inching towards the latter goal, he never dented the former.

Jeremie hadn't had long to work on either before X.A.N.A. pulled out by far his worst attack yet, gathering voltage in an electrical pylon. While Yumi had tried to warn authorities of the ramifications, the attack proved unstoppable without the Return to the Past. There were just enough hazmat suits at the factory for those who had stayed, Yumi being an unfortunate casualty alongside the entirety of the rest of the town. Ulrich and Odd, naturally, left to check on their families, leaving Jeremie alone with the supercomputer.

The boy sat in silence for several hours, unable to steel himself to talk to Aelita. Eventually, Jeremie sat in the old chair, for what he knew would be the last time. The pink-haired girl's face appeared on the screen, and the two only stared.

"I'm sorry." Aelita started at long last. It wasn't much, but anything to try and comfort Jeremie. It would be another moment before he responded.

"When I found this place, I made you a promise."

"I remember, Jeremie."

"I know I can. I've survived X.A.N.A. so far, and the radiation should hinder a lot of the things he could use against me."

"Is it worth it anymore? More importantly, do you even believe any of that?" Aelita frowned.

"That... isn't the question."

"What is the question, then? How many MORE people need to leave your world to bring me into it?" Jeremie lowered his head.

"As I said, that isn't the question. At this point, our world's not even a safe place to bring you into. The radiation would kill you in minutes."

"Then I can stay here, Jeremie. You don't have to deal with all of this anymore. I'll just do what I've always done..."

"I'm sorry, but... no."

"Then what are you suggesting?" Aelita interrogated the blonde, the two options coming to her mind having already been thoroughly discussed.

"I can't stand the thought of you staying in Lyoko, having to spend eternity waiting in a tower or wandering until something finally takes you... I'm not one for mercy killings, but I wouldn't be able to sleep any other way. At least this way there'd be some closure." Aelita was silent for a moment: she hadn't dared think of such an option, but hearing Jeremie's reasoning... there was no good outcome for her, she'd realized that several times over. Now, the question in her mind was Jeremie. What was best for him, was best for her now.

"...I understand. But, Jeremie, if I may, could I... do it myself? I'd rather it be my own decision, my own action. The digital sea, my final destination." Jeremy remained silent for another moment.

"Of course... I'm sorry, Aelita. I'm sorry I couldn't keep the promise I made to you."

"I'm sorry too. All of this happened because of me." The girl hung her head, and would have cried had she the ability to do so.

"No, Aelita. Stop it. You did nothing wrong, and I want you to remember that... for the rest of your life. You did absolutely nothing wrong. You're perfect... too perfect for our world, it seems." The two paused for a long time.

"...I love you, Jeremie." The words hurt the girl to say, and hurt the boy to hear. At long last, he responded.

"...I love you too, Aelita. _Victrix causa deis placuit sed Victa Catoni._" Aelita understood his words: Jeremie had used the phrase a few times before, and taught her their meaning when she had questioned it. 'The victorious cause pleased the gods, but the vanquished pleased Cato:' an admission of defeat, but standing true by one's convictions. It was the best thing Aelita could hear now, and with it, the girl cut the communication between her and her first friend.

Jeremie was glad- he didn't need to witness her demise, and the promise- even if not kept- would let him at least believe that Aelita wouldn't be miserable. With a deep sigh, tears stinging the corners of his eyes, he made his way to the elevator, taking it down to the bottom floor. The console shone gold as he approached it, a sort of 'pearly gates' in his eyes now. As he flipped the switch, the culmination of all of his triumphs and mistakes over the last few weeks, the boy genius, though never religious, had only one thing to say:

"May god have mercy on me."

* * *

**This was based off a Reddit post by u/Slam_Lord_bbbb, where he discussed the effects on the show of the absence of RTTP. I wrote a quick dialogue in the comments of that post, to which he responded that I should post it here. So, taking a break from my first original novel, "A Score After The Whisper" (which, by the way, is a major reason why my main story hasn't been updated in forever, sorry if that disappoints any of you), I decided to put together this quick one-shot. This was rushed beyond belief, so its quality may not be the greatest, but I wanted to at least put it up. Hope you enjoyed this nugget of content, even if it was short!**


End file.
